IT probably doesn't matter much to them in the aftermath of winning the title but Athenry did a lot more than Wolfe Tones to make a match of yesterday's AIB All Ireland Club Hurling final.

However, Athenry's 18 second half wides from all angles undermined losing manager Alan Cunningham's analysis that "their forwards found scores that little bit easier to come by than we did".

Athenry were worthy winners before a record crowd of 34,852 (surpassing the 1993 mark by 10,000). They dominated to such an extent that it was astonishing the Clare champions were still within a score of them at the end.

Wolfe Tones won't be sure how to take it. Cunningham's honest appraisal - "We were always that bit too far behind on the day. We were only filling gaps, they were far superior" doesn't hide the fact that the Shannon side had chances to put more pressure on Athenry.

This was especially so playing with the wind in the first half and even at the start of the second when full forward Derek Collins tapped a ball wide that centrefielder Pat O'Rourke had dropped invitingly on top of him.

That Athenry did manage to get enough on the scoreboard was largely due to the youngest player at Croke Park. Eugene Cloonan's nine points were a combination of precociously unflappable free taking and some exuberant open play which yielded a couple of scores - more than anyone else could produce.

To his extra credit, Cloonan - named man of the match had also to deal with hurling's most intimidating detail being marked by Brian Lohan.

It did make a certain amount of sense for PJ Molloy to deploy his prodigy in this way. Being sent out to play on Cuchulainn could hardly have created as little expectation and pressure. No matter what his under age reputation, Cloonan would have suffered no disgrace had he had to be moved.

In fact, most people were expecting Lohan to feed the youngster through the crusher before parcelling him out in a compressed cube to recover in the corner.

Afterwards, Cloonan was relatively unfazed. "Daring the week," he said, "people were talking about how I'd mark Brian Lohan. But he's a back and I'm a forward. I wasn't going out to mark him. He had to mark me.

In the early exchanges, Cloonan did enough to make his mark. Within five minutes, he had pointed two frees, both awarded for fouls on him by Lohan, and having survived an imperious act of dispossession, he came back shortly after to flick a point from play despite the attentions of his illustrious opponent.

Lohan still hurled well, even if less dominant than in previous campaign games. In the second half, some smart tactical play distracted him further. Cloonan was moved to the corner after a quiet period immediately after the interval and Joe Rabbitte was moved in.

Cloonan said he believed the hope was that Rabbitte would nick a goal but the effect was that Lohan ended up going for a walking tour and the space inside created more scares and alarms for the Clare team.

Finally, Rabbitte, another who had an anonymous day by the standards he has set in this season's club championship, moved out and allowed Pat Higgins to try a little physically orthodox full forward play.

Frank Lohan, whose contribution was nearly as awesome as his brother's during the campaign, had a difficult afternoon. He coped competently with his marker but failed to make his usual impact.

Athenry's attack looked more dangerous than their opponent and that after suffering the loss of Donal Moran through an ankle injury last week. His sniping runs were missed and in his absence, his brother, Cathal, provided most of the threatening pace and penetration on the flank.

Replacement Aidan Poinard had a mixed match. Lacking nothing in confidence, he thrashed three second half wides before scoring what Cloonan describe as the turning point of the match, putting Athenry four points clear, 0-12 to 1-5, in the 45th minute.

A sideline cut by the excellent and hard working Pascal Healy, popped the ball up for Pionard to hit it over the bar from shoulder height and 40 metres out.

The first half give a clear indication of how the match would progress. Playing into the wind, the Connacht champions survived a nervous start which saw a great deal of foostering on the ball. Their captain, the normally imperturbable Brian Feeney, was an unexpected culprit.

Their work was intensified in the fourth minute when Collins tipped home a deep ball from Sean Power to get Wolfe Tones off the mark. Their momentum lasted for much of the opening half hour but in between their eked out scores, Athenry were picking off points and defending well - Brian Higgins particularly impressive in a 28th minute double tackle on Paul Lee.

Only level at half time after benefitting from a strong breeze, the Shannon club was aware of the task ahead. Cunningham was regretful about two missed chances: "We had a couple of wides which could have kept us ahead. There was a poorly hit 65 and a poorly hit free before half time."

There had been no need to panic, he said, and rightly pointed out that, for the opening 10 minutes of the second half, Athenry had failed to pull away. Unfortunately for Wolfe Tones, the painful sequence of trial and error that characterised the opposition's scoring efforts was still moving along too quickly for them.

In the second half, the Claremen scored nothing - and had only one wide from play. Try as they might, they couldn't create even a short period of ascendancy. Both centre fielders were replaced as Brendan Keogh began to come into the match and supplement the industry of Healy.

They scored some nice points during the second half but Athenry never harnessed a surge that might have turned the match into more of an embarrassment for Wolfe Tones.

That was no harm as the Shannon club had done their best. If the performance didn't reach the level of their previous best, they still knew in their hearts that Athenry's had also been fairly non descript but that they had still been out gunned.